Silence and the ignorance it promotes have fed the AIDS epidemic in Africa perhaps more than any other factors. In Malawi, where until the end of dictator Hastings Banda's rule in 1994 women were barred from wearing short skirts and men could be jailed for having long hair, public discussion of AIDS was forbidden. According to the government, AIDS didn't exist inside Malawi. Catherine Phiri, 38, knew otherwise. She tested positive in 1990, after her husband had died of the disease. Forced to quit her job as a nurse when colleagues began to gossip, she sought refuge with relatives in the...
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